Starting Fresh
by GoldBee
Summary: Simon goes to London to start over, but the life is never that easy. Soon he finds himself haunted by an old enemy. With the help of the misterious Sarah he must find a way to survive.


_Hello. This is my first Mortal Instruments fan fiction so please be gentle. _

_I've had this idea on my mind for a while now so I decided to write it up._

_This has not been beta-ed and I'm sorry for any mistakes. _

_Also I'm not English so I apologise for anything incorrect._

_I really hope you'll enjoy the story _

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments or its characters._

It's been a year since the battle with Valentine. Simon had tried to get on with his life the same way he had before, but people started to notice that he hadn't changed. His friends from school became older, but he didn't. Sooner or later someone would start to notice. So he wanted to go away. Start fresh.

It was a warm Friday night in New York. He, Clary and Izzy were at the Taki's.

"Why?" Clary said. "Others have found their way of living. Half of the New York vampires are from around here. Why do you want to go?" Simon knew how hard it must be on her.

"I just have to. I am sorry to leave, but I just want to start over. You know? Try again. You will get older, I won't."

Clary opened her mouth to say something, but Simon cut her short "And no. I won't stay at the 'Dumort'. I don't like it there. And my parents are starting to notice. I have to go." He looked sadly at his friends and said "I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

"Are you sure?" Izzy broke the sad silence. "Maybe you will just go for a while. Like on a vacation." There was a flicker of hope as they all lifted their gazes from the table.

"No. I won't be back." The hope in their eyes died.

After a short moment of silence that seemed to take forever Clary said "Are you sure you want to go?"

"Yes." He simply said.

"Okay." She simply said and gave him a sad smile. "Is Magnus opening a portal?"

"Well he is supposed to open a portal. That is if Alec has managed to talk him into it. Which I'm pretty sure he has."

Izzy broke the silence once again. "What are you saying to your parents?" Clary still didn't meet his eyes.

"They think I'm going to live with one of my friends who moved to London a few years back."

At this Clary looked at him. "You're going to London?" She asked in surprise.

"Yes. Something wrong?" Simon found her reaction strange.

"No, I just thought you'd choose something sunnier. You know it rains a lot in England, right?"

Simon chuckled "Yeah. I know. But I've always wanted to live in London."

"Well, I guess if you start fresh you should start in a place you like" Clary said with a small trace of smile. "Anyway, I hope you like it there." Her smile turned into a grin "And if you don't you can always come back here."

"Yes." Izzy said more cheerfully. "You will be always welcome." All of them shared a smile and Izzys phone beeped.

"Clary, we have to go. Apparently there is a demon in the park and we need to join the others to hunt it down." As Isabelle said it she got up and put her jacket on. So did Clary and Simon.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"No, we'll be fine. You better go and pack."

Clary said "Are we going to see you tomorrow?"

"Well of course" he said with a small grin. "I'm not going away without saying goodbye. I will be at the Institute at 11:00."

Isabelle hugged him and made her way to the door. Clary also hugged Simon and they made their way to the exit.

Clary and Izzy turned left, and Simon went the other way.

"Don't forget the umbrella" Clary turned to him and shouted with a smile on her face.

Simon laughed silently and said "Don't worry. I won't."

After a long and sad morning of saying goodbye to his friends and family Simon found himself standing on a busy street in the London centre. He looked around and saw people rushing to their own business and no one even noticed him.

Simon started to make his way to the hotel he reserved. He thought that he would stay in London for a week or so and then try and move to some small town.

After checking in and putting his things in the room he left the hotel to explore the city. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still high up.

He didn't quite know where he was going. Simon thought that he would just wonder around for a while.

After a while of walking he found himself standing on a small street and looking at an old church. He didn't know why, bet the church felt familiar. He looked at it and its old façade and then it got to him why he was standing here. The church looked like The Institute in New York. Simon was wondering was this the London Institute? It could as well be because it was old, but beautiful and when he looked closer he saw a single rune drawn on the door.

He didn't know how long he was standing there - looking at the old church when he heard a voice next to him say "She's beautiful isn't she?"

Simon saw a girl about his age with dark brown hair standing next to him. She wore what looked like black army uniform with boots and her hair were tied back in a pony tail.

"Yes." Was all he said.

"It's strange" she said moving closer to the church yard "because all others who pass by see it as an old church with broken windows and old grave yard." She turned to Simon. "Which makes me think you are not like the others, which means that you have the Sight." She walked closer to Simon. "You are not a shadow hunter because I don't see any marks. You don't really look like a warlock." She took one more step closer "There are only few werewolves in this area and I know them all." She took one more step closer, now she was only about one and a half metres away. "And I know all the vampires." A wind brushed the hair that hid the Mark of Cain on Simon's forehead. "Ah" she said with a small smile "Simon Lewis." And took one more step.

Simon was so astonished of the way she figured out who he was that there was only one thing he wanted to ask her. "Who are you?" he asked looking in her eyes. She had chocolate brown, almost black eyes.

"My name is Sarah. Come, walk with me." She simply said and started to walk away. Simon didn't really know whether to fallow her, but he decided to do it.

Simon fell into the same pace as Sarah.

"Before you ask any more questions, you didn't really think that you could just come here and start over?" she said as a matter of fact.

Before she could continue Simon said "I kinda did. Why?"

"Well, London is not the best place where to start over. The demonical activity in London or England for that matter is one of the most demon-obsessed places in the world. If I were you, I would have gone to Jamaica. Or Hawaii." She said and turned to Simon.

"I didn't know that so…" he said quietly.

As they turned the corner Sarah went on "You are a Daylighter. A vampire who can walk in the sunlight. Sorry but London is not for you."

Simon felt offended by her attitude.

"Do you know why?" she went on.

Simon just shook his head still stunned about her mean attitude. Like knowing what he was thinking Sarah said "I don't mean to criticize you or be mean." She suddenly stopped and turned to look at Simon. "It is not safe for you here."

"Why?" he asked looking around. They were on a small deserted street.

"Because of the people looking for you." Simon was confused. Who was looking for him? Back in New York everything was fine. He surely would have noticed if something was wrong. Sarah continued "In New York you were untouchable. You spent your time with the Shadowhunters and you were protected. Here, on the other hand, you aren't." she said and started to walk again. "You are vulnerable here. Well, not right now because I'm here, but here in London." They crossed a street and entered a park.

Simon was confused now. How did she know so much? And who was she? Again he said "Who are you? And how do you know all this?"

"I'm a friend. You are unique and so am I." she said and looked around. Simon noticed the worried look on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Not to spook you, but there is someone watching us." She said "Come on. We need to get to my place. I'm in no mood or health to handle a demon."

Simon was starting to feel uneasy. He could feel the tension in his shoulders as he walked. "Where are we going?" he said.

"To a safe place. We need to get off the streets. They know you are here."

"Who knows I'm here. C'mon, I need some answers. You can't possibly want me to fallow you blindly." He said quite harshly.

"Shh. Don't shout. I'll tell you when we are safe." Was all she said.

"No. Tell me now." He said catching her arm and stopping her. "Please." He said quietly.

"Okay." She said still looking around suspiciously. "You have the Mark of Cain _and _you are a Daylighter, which means that you are very valuable. If someone would manage to get their hands on you… Let's just say that the result would not be pleasant." She was walking faster now.

"Who?"

"Well, the biggest candidate is Jonathon."

"As in Jonathon Morgenstern?" Simon was shocked. Jace had said that Jonathon was dead.

"He was," Sarah said and Simon got the feeling that she could really tell what he was thinking. "but as he has so much demon blood, he was able to somehow regenerate. I don't know how, though. He wants you, but not for your blood."

They crossed a busy street and kept walking fast. "We're almost there" she said. "He'll use you to get to Clary and the others." She stopped and looked into Simon's eyes. They now looked black. "He is on a personal vendetta. He will use you to get to the New York Institute and the Clave. He knows how much you're worth." With that they turned into a small street with Victorian houses. "My house is on this street. Looks like we'll be lucky to get there safely." As she said it there was a loud grown behind them.

"Damn it." She said. "Simon, don't look back, but run." She said loudly and he could feel the tension in her voice. Sarah started to run and Simon fallowed her, but suddenly something black and huge landed in front of them. "C'mon" she said throwing her hands in the air and stopping on the spot. "We're like five metres away from my house."

Simon noticed the black thing in front of them. It looked like a Cyclopes, with one eye, but he had no mouth. The creature was horrible and huge. "Do you have any weapons?" Sarah asked pulling out two seraph blades from her belt.

"No" Simon said feeling stupid that he hadn't brought any weapons with him.

Sarah pulled out another blade and handed it to him. "Try and stab it into his neck or the backbone area" she said and started to run towards the demon.

It gave the growling sound again when Sarah moved her hand to stab it.

Although huge, the creature was fast. Before she could do any damage it leaped out of her way and charged towards Simon. Simon jumped out of its way, and stabbed it in the back. At the same moment Sarah leaped and slashed one of her blades through its neck. The demon kicked out and Sarah was sent flying in the air. She landed on the ground with a small scream. Simon used the moment when the demon was looking at Sarah to slash his seraph blade once more through its neck. The demon gave a horrible growl, and vanished.

Simon rushed to Sarah who was getting up clutching her left hand.

"Are you all right?" Simon asked.

"I'll live, but my arm is broken. Damned thing. Last time I had my arm broken was a long, long time ago."

Simon helped her to get up. "Can you walk?" he asked looking at the banged up Sarah.

"I think so" she said and tried to stand up. As she did so she let out a small gasp and Simon noticed the blood running down her leg.

"Your leg." He said.

"Yeah. It has seen better days. We should move. There might be more coming." She started to walk and Simon went to help her. He put his hand around her waist, helping her to stand. He could see in how much pain Sarah was in.

Sarah's house was really only a few paces away. When they stopped at the door Simon noticed that there were three runes drawn on them. Sarah unlocked the door and they stepped in.

The first thing Simon noticed about the house was the runes. Both walls of the corridor were painted with all kinds of runes.

"They protect the house." Sarah said and moved further down the corridor. They entered the living room and Sarah sat down on the sofa. She took out a stele and drew a rune on her hand. "This should help for a while."

Simon looked around. The room was medium sized with a small table in the centre and a sofa at the wall. There were pictures on the wall. "Do you live alone?" he asked.

Sarah got up from the sofa and shook her jacket off. "Yes. My parents died a while ago." She started to walk towards the kitchen and Simon went to help, but she said "I can walk now. The rune will heal my leg. I'll need something stronger for the arm. You can take your jacket off. You'll be staying here tonight. You can't risk staying at the hotel." She said and moved to look through the cupboards.

Simon took his jacket off and said "All of my things are there."

"We'll get them tomorrow. It will be dark soon. It's not wise to be out in the dark." She closed the cupboard and had a bag of green powder in her good hand.

"Can I help you somehow?" Simon asked looking at Sarah moving around the kitchen looking for something.

"You can put the kettle on. If I want my arm to be good for tomorrow I'll need to make a potion."

Simon filled the kettle and switched it on. "A potion? I thought only warlocks could make them. And as much as I've seen you're a Shadowhunter." He said feeling confused again.

"There is much you need to learn about me and I'll tell you in a moment." Sarah took the kettle and poured the hot water in a mug together with the green powder. Simon heard her say something he didn't understand and then Sarah moved to sit at the table.

Simon sat on the opposite side of the table.

"You wanted information. I will tell you, but beware, I have not told this to anyone in my life, which has been long."

Simon looked in her eyes which had gone brown again.

Sarah continued "The first thing you need to know is that I'm not a normal Shadowhunter. There is nothing normal about me."

When she said it Simon understood that this would be a long, long night.

_Thanks for reading. I would love to see reviews _

_If I get enough I will continue the story._

_So please R&R _


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